


The Gate

by BlueNeutrino



Category: Legends (2014)
Genre: Family Feels, Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:49:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28088796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueNeutrino/pseuds/BlueNeutrino
Summary: At the school gate, a man who used to be Dmitry Petrovich waits for a girl who used to be Kate Crawford.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 3





	The Gate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ValmureEld (InkSiren)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkSiren/gifts).



> I don't know how it would happen, but my friend ValmureEld couldn't bear to leave the show's ending there and neither can I.

He shouldn't be here. He's breaking every rule, every condition of release, and every tenet of good sense he has, but for once he doesn't care. Just a minute or two to see her and then he'll do the responsible thing and leave. _Responsible,_ as if that's ever been a trait of Dmitry Petrovich. Responsible for her suffering, maybe. Perhaps Martin Odum or...whoever he is can do better.

The sound of the schoolbell is shrill, and for a moment jolts the echo of a memory that doesn't quite connect. Martin shakes it off, eyes trained on the gate as students begin to file out, and for a brief moment recalls making the same wait for Aiden in some other life.

He sees her before she sees him. The restyled red hair and ornamental glasses don't fool him, but the sight makes something inside him ache with both regret and hope. A new name for her. New identity, new school, another chance to finish her education and move on with her life. She isn't walking alone but with a friend, it's good to see. A friend who knows her as someone Martin wouldn't recognise.

No longer Kate. No longer Katya. Slipped into a new skin just like the man who's father to her by all but blood.

Again Martin (Dmitry? Alexei?) wonders if the responsible thing would be to turn around and leave. Too late.

There's no reason that she should have picked him out of all the parents lingering by the gate, except that he sees the way she now watches the world—wary eyes darting over her surroundings, constantly alert, no longer trusting. Those eyes find him.

For a moment, it seems that the whole world disappears. The school, the students, the rowdy chatter all fade to leave nothing but the two of them facing each other. And then Kate runs.

With each step, the forces that had kept them apart so long fade further into nothing. As she once had as a child she seeks refuge in his open arms, and he welcomes her as he did then. A steady embrace to soothe her trembling, he cradles her to his chest and tucks her head beneath his chin. "Shh, it's alright," he mutters into her hair, her tears staining his shirt. "I’m here. It’s alright, lass."

Because she isn't Kate, and he isn't Dmitry. Nor Martin, nor John, nor Alexei.

But he is Papa, and that's all that matters.


End file.
